Sydney Leathers is promoting safe sex after saying she regrets having unprotected intercourse in her porn debut with an actor who days earlier slept with a star diagnosed as HIV positive.

In a statement today, Leathers said: 'Some might call me a hypocrite for
suddenly having this message about safe sex because I chose not to use a
condom while filming my movie, Weiner and Me.

'I don't think I'm a
hypocrite though. I think it would be foolish of me to not learn from a
teachable moment like this. Had I not said anything about this, it would
have felt like a missed opportunity on my part. And we all know I don't
like to miss opportunities.'

Leathers recently made the film Weiner And Me after a sexting relationship with the New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.

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Debut: Sydney Leathers porn movie where she stars alongside Xander Corvus who previously slept with a porn actress who was diagnosed as HIV positive

The man who played Weiner, Xander Corvus, had previously had sex with Cameron Bay - a porn actress whose recent HIV diagnosis brought the porn industry to an abrupt halt.

The chain of events sparked fears that Leathers may have been exposed to the virus.

Leathers said: 'I feel like it's my duty to stress the importance of using condoms.'

She went on to advise that condom use is important not just while making porn but if people were thinking about 'having a one night stand in real life'.

She added: 'Whether your partner is a porn star or not, you could be putting yourself at risk. You don't know who all they have been with.'

Weiner's sexting partner said that she was not contacted about the possibility she may have been infected with HIV but that it was a 'very scary and surreal situation to be in'.

She said: 'What's so crazy about this is that the
only time I've been sexually active in many months was during filming,
so just think, ONE sexual experience could put you in a scary situation.
It's just worth it to protect yourself and your partner.'

X-rated: Xander and Leathers (pictured above) starred in the porn film together, and Leathers said she did have 'some boundaries' when shooting the movie

The newly-minted porn star said that in hindsight she should have used a condom on the set of her film but that she felt safe because the 'porn industry is very good about testing'.

Leathers said: 'I bet when you meet a new guy for the
first time he doesn't show you his clean STD test results. That's what's
different about the porn world.'

However, she is now on a 'mission' to have the porn industry 'get on board' with using condoms.

Leathers added: '...I just hope recent events can help
change some minds regarding this issue. If I can save even ONE girl from
going through what I've been dealing with, then I'd say my mission
isn't in vain.

'So in conclusion, just wrap it up. It's the smart thing to do.'

Distraught: Cameron Bay's agent says his client, whose recent HIV diagnosis has brought the porn industry to a standstill, is 'distraught' over the news

Leathers also praised Cameron Bay for her bravery at coming forward to reveal her diagnosis.

Bay's agent says his client is 'distraught' after her recent HIV diagnosis but that the 29-year-old
actress is cooperating with the industry trade organization in an
effort to ensure all her partners duly are informed of her status.

‘As
difficult as this news is for me,’ Bay said in a statement, ‘I am
hopeful that no other performers have been affected. I plan on doing
everything possible to assist the medical professionals and my fellow
performers.’

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'Cameron has been a model citizen
acting responsibly at this most difficult time,' said her agent Mark
Schechter. 'Her courage should be lauded.'

But Bay admits she now has a long road ahead.

'My long-term plan is to take care of myself and my health,' she said.

A recently retired porn performer described some of the struggles Bay will likely face.

'There's
no health insurance, there's no union; there really isn't a safety
net,' Aurora Snow told the LA Times. 'I feel really bad for her. It's
got to be really tough to get that kind of news.'

Arrest: Cameron Bay seen in here in mugshots from some of her multiple arrests while in Arizona

Porn Star: Her arrests range from traffic violations to forgery and even assault

MailOnline
exclusively revealed Bay's criminal past this week. The performer's rap
sheet shows more than 17 charges to her name, some of which were
dismissed. She also spent more than a year in prison in Arizona in 2007.

Her charges range from traffic violations to forgery and aggravated assault.

Cameron Bay is not the porn star's real name. MailOnline knows her true identity, but has chosen not to print it.

Cameron
has worked under names including Ashton and Ryder, but before she
embarked on a career in porn she appeared on VH1's Tool Academy in 2009.

The
show centers around couples who are sent to relationship boot camp in
order to save their unions. The season ran for eight episodes, and
Cameron along with her boyfriend of 10 years, Clarence - who had
nicknamed himself 'Celebrity' - were eliminated in the third episode.

Just
two years before her reality TV debut, Cameron spent a year and six
months in prison for an unknown offense in Arizona. She was released in May 2008.

Her latest arrest came in February, where she was arrested for criminal damage and disorderly conduct.

She was also arrested in October last year for criminal damage, disorderly conduct and interfering with judicial proceedings.

While in August, she was arrested for failing to show her driving license or identification.

Risk: Xander Corvus, left, who played Weiner in the movie with Sydney Leathers, had unprotected sex with Cameron Bay, right, a few weeks ago - who has just been told she has HIV

Cameron Bay spoke to Adult Video News to confirm she was the performer responsible for the moratorium on porn production.

Cutting Edge Testing lab told Bay on Wednesday that a blood sample drawn the previous day came back positive for HIV.

She told AVN that she was 'obviously extremely distraught and in
disbelief', and that an additional test will be conducted to confirm the
result.

According to Bay, she received her last clean bill of health on July 27.

Just days later she filmed an unprotected sex scene for a series called Public Disgrace. Her male partner was Xander Corvus.

Gawkerreports he and Leathers also had unprotected sex for the Vivid.com movie.

In a statement to the site, Leathers
said both she and Xander got tested prior to shooting their scene, and
both were deemed 'healthy'.

However, the presence of STDs sometimes does not come up in tests for up to three months after exposure.

It
takes the body two-to-eight weeks to make antibodies against HIV -
known as the window period. Tests done immediately after the exposure or
within this window period may not detect the virus and give a false
negative result.

The CDC
recommends that individuals who have been exposed to HIV and have been
found negative before three months have elapsed get retested after three
months.

Leathers said in an earlier statement:'I do not have HIV and have not been exposed to HIV regardless of the reports out there saying otherwise.

'I was not contacted by the Free Speech Coalition to re-test, I reached out to them to see if I should re-test and was told I did not need to.

'I took all the necessary precautions before and after my scene for Vivid and acted responsibly and therefore was able to protect myself from exposure to anything.

'As an added precaution I retested 2 days after my shoot and again yesterday and was negative.'

Diane Duke, executive director of the industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition, told the Associated Press in an e-mail about the HIV detection: 'The moratorium will be lifted once the risk of transmission has been eliminated.

Virus: Cameron Bay, who has appeared in adult films since 2010, confirmed last night she was the performer responsible for the moratorium

'In fact, since 2004 there have only been two cases of performers
testing positive for HIV and neither of those situations involved on-set
transmission,' Duke said.

'The current situation would bring the number
to three cases in nearly 10 years, not just in Los Angeles but
nationwide.'

The industry briefly put a similar
moratorium in place last year after nearly a dozen performers were
infected during a syphilis outbreak.

Word
of the latest moratorium quickly drew critical responses from porn
industry opponents. Among them was Michael Weinstein, whose group the
AIDS Healthcare Foundation successfully lobbied voters last year to
adopt an ordinance requiring actors use condoms in the making of most
porn films.

'How many adult film performers have to become infected with an array of preventable sexually transmitted diseases - including HIV, which is not curable - before the porn industry actually complies with the law requiring condom use,' he said in a statement.

Since the ordinance's adoption, county officials have said they are investigating one violation.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall III, who is pushing for the state to adopt a similar law, called Wednesday's news 'devastating and preventable.'

'Exposing workers to this type of harm would not be accepted in any other industry in this nation,' the Los Angeles Democrat said.

The industry, which says its audience does not want to see condoms, is fighting the Los Angeles County measure in court.

Unhappy: Cameron Bay faces up to her ex-boyfriend on the VH1 show Tool Academy

Before she was a porn star: Cameron Bay appeared on VH1's Tool Academy in 2009 alongside her former boyfriend Clarence AKA Celebrity